Fair Fit is an individually run sewing studio in Baton Rouge, Louisiana where you can learn how to sew and make your own clothing. I teach individualized sewing instruction for students at all levels of experience, from absolute beginner to practiced and seasoned sewers.

The plackets that we use in shirt making are pattern drafted using simple math. And I've done a lot of the pre work for you, by giving you two free shirt placket pdf patterns that you can use to customize your own shirts and shirt dresses. If you are a Fair Fit Method student and following along with this series, or you are an ambitious wardrobe sewist who needs to add a either a pop over or a tower placket to a project you can download, print and customize the pattern I've included in the post.

In this post and video tutorial, I'll show you how I use the measurements from my custom dress and add the math to the placket to make your own custom pattern. I'm using these plackets to achieve a specific design using my Fair Fit pattern from our Fair Fit Method courses. This pattern drafting tutorial applies to not just Fair Fit patterns, so read along and watch the video to learn how to add plackets to your own personal designs.

Have you ever had a pattern that you love but find that you really don't need the dart? Or have you ever wanted to take a pattern designed to be sewn in woven cloth and draft out the darts so it can be sewn with stretch knits?

In this post and video tutorial, I'll show you how I draft out the darts in order to achieve a specific design using my Fair Fit pattern from our Fair Fit Method courses. This pattern drafting tutorial applies to not just Fair Fit patterns, but any sewing pattern where you would like the darts eliminated from the design.

As I hinted at last week, I have decided to release my Fair Fit Dress as a sewing pattern and online workshop. The pattern actually goes beyond just a dress, because it is a customizable system of components and pattern pieces that build upon each other to make infinite variations. If the first dress is well received, then throughout the year I plan on releasing each of the components that allow you to further customize the parts into tops, skirts, and other styles of dresses. In this post, you will get a first look at the project!

In this series, I have explained the name Fair Fit and what it means to me from many different perspectives that have been shaped by my own experience, and where I’m taking my design and education practice to create an opening for students and fashion sewists who do want choice, and more of a voice in how they experience fashion design and the clothes they choose to wear.

Have you ever had to create your own job? I once did as part of my professional growth, and in this post I share how my student loan debt taught me about creating income and helped me to find a way to make my own job and pay it off. I’ll share with you the steps I took and questions I asked to pay it off. Read along and learn how I turned this big problem into a path to grow professionally.

Last week, I shared with you the story as to how my projects developed in the academic art world in Chicago, and then continued to grow into new areas of presentation when I took the art project I made to the runway in New Orleans. I also shared how the two world conflicted, and how at that time, I didn't know how to resolve it, so I took a leave from creating fashion collections. Today, I want to pick up where I left off, and share with you what happened during this sabbatical, and how the key takeaways came to prosper me, and show me new ways of operating in the profession of fashion design. There are some laws of creation I learned and I hope the lessons inspire and encourage you creatively too!

In this video presentation about how I created my first clothing collections, you will learn: 1. How your unique voice really comes down to your personal story, and key takeaways that you can use in your personal sewing and design practice too.

In this week’s article, I’ll show you the first project that I developed to create a new experience in a fashion designer and client collaboration that taught me how to balance input and criticism in fashion, and reasons why some people love a design, and why they sometimes don’t.

This process of dressing other people made me aware of how fair relationships with clothing and fashion can be formed, and it shaped my perspectives into "fair fit" and "fair fashion". In this post, learn how starting a fashion business shapes your perceptions of clothing and fit and they relate to individual feelings and expression.

Today I want to share with you some principles and initial steps to take in the beginning with your sewing pattern that will help you avoid sewing up a garment that doesn't fit. In this article, you will learn how to measure the pieces of your pattern, before you cut it, to increase your likely hood of a successfully sewn garment.